Nutrition guru Gary Null says he was almost killed by eating a dietary supplement -- his own.

In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the controversial alternative-medicine advocate says he suffered "mentally and physically" after eating his Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal.

Over the month Null, 65, ate the powdered product, he suffered "excruciating fatigue along with bodily pain," and "began to suffer from extreme cracks and bleeding from within his feet," the suit says.

"Null had to be in bed with his feet elevated because it was so painful he did not have the strength to walk" -- but he kept eating Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal, "thinking that it would help him and relieve his condition."

Instead, it made it worse, according to the suit, which blames a contractor that mixed the powder.

The health nut went to see his doctor, and tests showed he had elevated levels of Vitamin D in his system. He later discovered that the Ultimate Power Meal had 1,000 times the amount of Vitamin D than the label claimed.

That meant that instead of ingesting 2,000 IU of Vitamin D daily, he was ingesting 2 million IU, the suit says. Most doctors recommend 1,000 IU a day.

Null said he was later told that if he hadn't visited his doctor when he did, "he could have died within a short period of time."

When Null discovered what the problem was, he "sequestered himself and fasted, only consuming massive amounts of water, as he was told that there was no medical treatment to lower the amount of Vitamin D in his system," the suit says.

"It took three months to get his blood seemingly back to where he was able to function. Even now, Null's condition is questionable, as he continues to occasionally urinate blood," the suit says.

Null -- who markets fitness DVDs, as well as hair-care, anti-aging, anti-stress, air-purification, weight-loss and pet-care goods on his Web site -- soon discovered he wasn't the only one who couldn't handle his product.

While he was recuperating, "six consumers were hospitalized with severe kidney damage, and Null, in the midst of all this, while he was suffering in bed, had dozens of his customers calling him, along with condemning and threatening him," the suit says.

The suit -- seeking $10 million -- says New Jersey company Triarco was responsible for mixing the Vitamin D for the product, which has since been recalled. It charges Triarco failed to do proper tests before sending the ingredient on.

Stay away from all of these vitamin and mineral supplements. Nature never intended the human body to consume them in these high amounts which is why it's impossible to get too much from food.You body requires a balance of nutrients not a massive amount of them. Eat a variety of foods and keep under a certain number of calories.The rest is just heredity and there's not too much you can do about it except eliminating harmful habits. Even this will not increase your lifespan but merely prevent you from dying prematurely.

truelies2
04/28/2010 8:19 AM
No such thing as a quick fix or a free ride. Do it the right way. Eat right and exercise. Slow and steady wins the race.

Law Abiding Aryan
04/28/2010 8:13 AM
Another thing that annoys me is people who drink bottled water. NYC has the best water and it's constantly being monitored. You don't know what conditios the bottled water was bottled under or even the sourse. A lot of it is just tap water from places that doesn't have the high quality of NYC water that's been filtered (or not) Then it may be stale from sitting in bottles and the plastic bottle may not be good either.